This is a charming and very well kept town, with nice shops and cafes. There are castles, a lake, a beautiful rose garden and a herb garden. This is a lovely place to spend a day, wandering around. The French appear to keep their villages and towns in a far tidier condition than many similar British places and we spotted no trash or graffiti anywhere.
We had a fantastic tour on 29th July which lasted at least 90 minutes. There were no restricions on taking photos, which was brilliant. The entrance fee is very resasonable, especially compared to properties in England. The guide was a very ammenable young man who happily answered any questions we had. We were provided with a comprehensive guide to the chateau in English, which we read before the tour so that the French was understandable too. I can't fault the tour or the castle. Part of the castle is private, so we avoided photographing that part of the castle. A definite must see, as it is one of only 2 similar castles in the whole of France!
This is not an expensive way to pass an hour but you'd need to be really into chateaus to be enthralled. Not a lot to see - guided tour is obligatory - and in French only. When I bought my tickets my cameras were clearly seen as they were around my neck. No mention was made of any restrictions on photography - until we were past the drawbridge - when the guide advised (in English and French) no photographs were allowed inside the rooms of the chateau. I was really annoyed ny this as the reason I waas there was to take pictures. Fine - they can have any rules they like but they MUST tell visitors BEFORE they take the money!! So if you're intention is to take pictures - save the entrance fee and have a wander round the medieval garden (free) instead! Limted access for wheel chairs to exterior of chateau only.
I would agree with all the reviews that Lassay is a pretty town and there is a useful town map available free at the tourist info so you can see all the main areas. However, we found the chateaux tour to be very disorganised. Yes the written guides in English are good but didn't follow the order of the tour we were taken on. You only see a very small part of the castle and after we had been shown the outside our guide left our large group in the courtyard and collected an even larger group from the front entrance and tried to get us all in the tiny kitchen and then got very confused about which groups had seen which rooms inside so we gave up and went round on our own as did various others. A shame as it is a beautiful place.
Lassay is a wonderful little town. As well as the main Chateau, there are 2 others. At one of them, there is a medieval banquet which is held on several nights in August. Try and get along, just for the minstrels, local singers and a rather good atmosphere stoked by plenty of wine and good food.There is a small market on Friday (I think) in a lovely little square in the centre of town. There are a couple of mid range restaurants, but it's a little surprising that there doesn't seem to be a top notch one (correct at the time of typing).The countryside surrounding Lassay is very French, with a slow and quiet atmosphere. If you like excellent food, do try the Auberge in Poulay which is about 5 miles south of Lassay. Lunch is unbelievable value whilst dinner is merely superb value.
We just happened to arrive on market day. Nice stalls with lots of food to try, great atmosphere. Small village but very quaint square with several cafes and shops. Lovely Chateau. Did not see the other smaller, older chateaus. Well worth a visit.
This review is mixed. The town is fun to walk around and the little plaques on the buildings have English and make interesting reading. The Chateaux is fantastic but the tours are compulsory and in French. You are provided with an English file to help understand what you are seeing but it's dry and missing much of the interesting stuff given in the French only tour. Our little tour group consisted of 80% English speaking but the tour guide only spoke in French though capable of basic English and it left most of the audience lost while the 4-5 French laughed out loud at the jokes etc from the tour guide. This sums up tourist problems in France, such a wasted opporunity. However I still recommend visiting Lassay and if you speak French then it's a must in Mayenne.
Four of us enjoyed the guided tour around the Chateau. The rooms we saw contained a remarkable collection of artefacts that brought the Chateau to life. Artefacts included kitchen equipment, armour, swords, muskets and some interesting paintings. The guide was well informed and went to some lengths to explain, in both French and English, the details regarding the history of the Chateau and its family connections. Well worth a visit.
We go to Lassay les Chateaux a lot as there are many things to see, the rose garden is beautiful and the chateau is well worth a visit.
Easy to find chateau which is still used by the original family/owners at weekends. Less formal than many chateaux and bi-lingual guide. Pretty town of Lassay and actually within the centre rather than a few kilometres outside. Pretty gardens and huge working kitchen. Well worth a visit. In fact we have been twice. Reasonable entry charge.